Leftism in sports media has run amok.
Colin Kaepernick’s Anthem protest and prolonged unemployment have dominated the NFL news headlines.
The media-stirred controversy has created a new sensation that is terrible for sports journalism as a whole.
Athletes are being painted into a corner: they must either agree with left-wing orthodoxy on the issue, or they’re considered part of the problem.
If athletes prefer to keep politics out of sports, they’re still part of the problem, which is what Tom Brady quickly found out.
From Breitbart:
Tuesday on Fox Sports 1’s “Undisputed,” Shannon Sharpe reacted to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady saying in a radio interview that he has not paid much attention to Colin Kaepernick and the national anthem protests around the league.
Sharpe accused Brady of remaining politically correct on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest to protect his brand because of the backlash he got for having a President Trump “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker.
“You know why he won’t touch this?” Sharpe asked. “He saw the backlash he got for ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in his locker. He will not touch it because he doesn’t want to upset his base or he doesn’t want to upset his sponsors’ base. He is not touching this.”
He added, “I’m not surprised by Tom Brady. Tom Brady is as [politically correct] as it comes. He’s a sponsor’s dream: tall, white, married, handsome, articulate…”
This is the trap the left loves to set.
If you agree with them, you’re brave and heroic; Aaron Rodgers spouted the progressive party line on the anthem protests and said Kaepernick should have a job. For this, Sharpe and colleague Rob Parker lauded him for his courage.
If you disagree with the left, you’re a disappointment; Sharpe excoriated sports legend Jim Brown for speaking out against the protest (even suggesting he was “jealous”), and Parker savaged Dez Bryant for not participating in it, calling him one of the “worst people in the world.”
Brady has chosen to abstain, and he’s still considered a villain. This is what happens when the left crowns itself the arbiter of morality.
The unspoken tragedy of the entire fiasco is the protests are largely self-serving. People like Sharpe and Parker never discuss remedies, because they have none.
The main purpose is to whip up people into a frenzy and perpetuate schisms in American culture for political gain.
Brady isn’t playing that game, and the left hates him for it.